Innventia AB is a world leader in research and development relating to pulp, paper, graphic media, packaging and biorefining.The Business area Packaging Solutions is developing new business opportunities through the development of sustainable and functional material and packaging solutions. Our work is based on an overall view of the packaging value chain from raw material to packaging and waste handling and covers: --all packaging materials with a focus on biobased, from the traditional ones to new composites --packaging manufacturing and converting --packaging construction, design, logistics and usability Besides highly skilled personnel we have a large transport testing lab with up to date test equipment and certification from e.g. ISTA. We also have a material testing lab, pilot equipments like extrusion coating and rotational die cutting and a Human Product Interaction lab for testing packaging perception and usability. Here we are using e.g. stationary and portable eye movement cameras.

Innventia is also host to several Trade and Industry groups, among others:

Normpack - for safer materials in contact with food

Normpack's aim is that consumers should be able to rely on materials in contact with food being safe.

P3G Packaging & Product Protection Group

The Packaging & Product Protection Group is a forum for people who have an interest in goods and product protection, e.g. as regards packaging dimensioning, choice of material and damage preventing measures in connection with transport, storing and handling of both industry and consumer goods.

SUW

It is SUW's policy to be at the heart of first-rate R&D, providing information on the field of corrugated board. SUW shall aim to: develop and support research into corrugated board in order to strengthen its competitiveness within the packaging industry, develop cost-effective processes for production and conversion, and improve the quality of raw materials for corrugated board.

Miljöpack

The Miljöpack group works with packaging and environmental issues and is a group of companies that work together on resource-efficient packaging. The group monitors developments relating to legislation and regulations in Sweden, within the EU and globally, and disseminates topical information.

The competence we utilize in our consultancy assignments is built on and develops through comprehensive research covering the entire value chain from raw material to consumer.

Academia meets industry in China at the IAPRI 2018 World Packaging Conference

IAPRI’s June Conference was successful on many levels, but may also be remembered as the first event to feature a trial Academia Meets Industry session.

As the name suggests, the aim is to bridge the gap between industry’s needs and the research capabilities of IAPRI member organizations and university departments. “The central idea is to create an opportunity to encourage collaboration,” says co-organizer of the session, Yves Wyser of Nestlé Research Center.

An audience of around 30 heard three five-minute presentations. Two of these were from academia, seeking industry partners to take their projects a step further. Dan Xu of Southwest University, Chongqing, China, talked about nanomaterial applications in food packaging, and Cristina Guzman of UDEM, Mexico, presented on the characterization of Mexican roads.

Helping to coordinate the new event were Jun Wang of Jiangnan University, China, and Tamal Ghosh of Omya Singapore. The idea had been proposed in previous years, but has only now come to fruition.

“Attendees welcomed the initiative, which will be pursued at future IAPRI events,” says Wyser. Format and frequency are still being discussed, he adds. Suggestions can be addressed to the organizers via Secretary General Ed Church: sg@iapri.org

IAPRI PepsiCo Student Exchange Scholarship for Research

The IAPRI Student Exchange Scholarship for the 2018-’19 academic year has been awarded to Wanjun Chu of Linköping University, Sweden, for his proposal to investigate the influence of on-pack information on consumers’ food waste behavior.

He says he is “excited and grateful” to have this opportunity, and plans to spend time at Karlstad University, also in Sweden, and RMIT University, Australia. The Scholarship, worth $7,000, is generously sponsored by PepsiCo.

In his video presentation, pitched to an IAPRI judging panel during the Zhuhai Conference, he pointed out that there was an urgent need to develop improved understanding of how packaging attributes affect behavior around food waste in different contexts. The proposal is to focus on date-related on-pack information on dairy products. As he notes, studies have shown that the date label triggers as much as a third of avoidable household food waste in the UK.

One concern is that products which have been correctly stored are thrown away, even though perfectly edible, simply because the ‘best before’ date (but not the ‘use by’ date) has expired. Wanjun Chu first plans to interview experienced design masters students at Linköping for feedback on methodology. At Karlstad and RMIT, the aim is to recruit around 10 households in each location and spend three or four months assessing the impact of date information on behavior and exploring possible adjustments to on-pack design.

Design options could include a calendar-style visualization of ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates or a QR code link to a webpage with more detailed information on storage and shelf-life.

Activity Theory will be used to interpret collected data. A design ethnography approach will be applied in order to address challenges of accurate self-reporting and motivation among consumers.